syncopated.

sea games

that's wearn haw leading off the start line in subic bay.

memories of that and the asean sailing championships 4 years back. i remember having nice oscillating wind...

and in particular, the team racing final. we were leading the host nation philippines 1,2,3,8 (mel, me, sarah, chin was last haha) going into the first reach. one of them caught up on the leeward stern of sarah, and with the jury boat 10 boatlengths away, just started luffing her to windward (overtaking boat). she was protesting, but the jury waived it away.

eventually she was last wich chin, so me and mel had to take action on the last upwind, and we ended it finishing in a flourish like 2,3,4 or smth.

the jury is the third player on the field.

about the sea games.

this is outdated by now, but after three races, we are headed for 6 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronzes. find the results here. as of now there are only 4 pics, in which some smart ass decided to prominently stick the photographer's name.

to summarise:

1st - chin and rence, dawn and siobhan, maxi (not sure of that one), toh liying and lee ching, zhen and justin, mel and pei pei, manyi.

basically the double handers are doing well.

2nd - sean losing his battle with alvin

3rd - roy and pei ming, wearn haw, griz.

goh thye hock is 4th in the rsx but i don't know who that is.

nothing is concrete yet, indeed we'll probably see some frailed nerves towards the end. i'll venture to say that we'll probably lose and gain some golds in the last few races.

especially when the sea games sailing is not proper sailing anyway. it's match racing, plain and simple. looking at the tables, the largest fleet is, what, 5? cmon, we've sent 10 optimists to swan river before! we had good racing. but at the sea games you know your rival before anything even starts, and you must mark him/her down to win.

that's not fun when you have to race up to 15 times. consistency should win competitions, but here there is no need because with so few sailors you could hardly go wrong.

real racing is when you sail against a fleet of at least 50, where there are decisions to be made, where there is playing of the dice, where you stand to lose everything from a bad mistake.

i guess there is a different skills needed in sailing against 5 and against 50. what our sailors are going through now is really a mental challenge. in a world championship against many pros you need more skill in tactics and strategy.

a sidetrack.

i heard from a golf commentary
some time ago

that often a saved par is worth more than an easy birdie.

it means much the same in sailing... it's often better to have been able to, following a poor start, rise through the fleet to finish in the top 5, rather than lead from start to finish. it works out in the end - it's basically cutting your losses. in two races, two 5s beat a 1st and a 10th.


anyway.

we all sailed radial today. 'twas fun playing the shifts, but the wind could have been a bit more forgiving.

something about choosing between improving your sailing skills and switching class so as to have a good chance to win a medal at the asian games. it's all about priorities, priorities. whether you want to sail all your life or take the best out of it now and leave after that.

it's a hard life of decisions, man. gd luck to the sailors, as much as i hate the close quarter races.

Strummed at 9:29 PM (x)